Next up yet another Halloween DIY for you all bought to you by Morgs and Jen's Sewcial Club (A Pair of crafting obsessives made up of myself & Jenni Wilson, follow us on Facebook and Instagram & DM us your email address & we'll add you to our newsletter so you can get other super special DIY's and Invites to Workshops & Stitch n Bitches!)

Now back to the DIY, which is for a Pom Pom Bat!

This Pom Pom Bat is so cute and pretty easy to make, it'd be great to do with some friends of kids in preparation for getting the home ready for Autumn or a Halloween Party and is much more special than some of the plasticky, cheap decorations you find in the shops. The materials needed are inexpensive and can be found at Hobbycraft or through craft supply sellers on Amazon or Ebay, but I do recommend seeking out any local independent haberdashers or craft shops first, supporting your local indie retailers is something very close both our hearts!

MATERIALS

50g Black DK (Double Knit) Yarn in Black *This can be any cheap acrylic yarn it does not need to be expensive.

One black Pipe cleaner

Scissors

Large Pom Pom Maker (These come in a set of Four with XL, Large, Medium & Small Sized makers)

Yarn Needle

Stick On googly eyes

Card or Paper

Marker Pen or Pencil

Contact Adhesive such as UHU multipurpose

Black Felt

STEP 1

First you need to make the pom pom body of the bat, which is super easy using a pom pom maker. You buy these in a set and they are inexpensive but you will get so much use out of them! Take the pom pom maker, open up the curved arms on one side and start to wrap the yarn around. Keep going until the curved arm is full of wool and the inner curve is totally full. The more you wrap the fatter the pom pom! Once this is complete snip the end of the yarn, shut the pom pom maker and repeat the process on the opposite side.

STEP 2

Next take a pair of scissors and snip around the middle of the outer edge of either side of the pom pom maker, under the yarn is a groove the scissors will slide into. This helps keep the snips even, be careful not to let the maker open up and all the wool to fall out! Do this on both sides of the pom pom maker

STEP 3

Cut a 50cm length of yarn and wrap and knot it around the center of the pom pom maker, make sure you keep this tight to ensure the pom pom stays in one piece. Open up the arms of the pom pom maker, take hold of the white central circles and pull the two sides of the pom pom maker apart and voila a pom pom is born!

STEP 4

Take your scissors again and give your pom pom a little hair cut, snipping off any uneven straggly yarns. Ensure you do not snip the long ties knotted around the middle as you will need these later!

STEP 5

The next step is to make the template for your bat wings, take a piece of paper or thin card and draw out a bat shaped wing. This can be as big or small as you want, depending how scary or cute you want your bat to be. Fold the card in half and cut around the outside with scissors.

STEP 6

Open up your wings! Mine are around 20cm wide and kind of skinny because I like the contrast between the bats fat fluffy body and cute little wings! Next place this template on your piece of felt and cut around the edges with scissors.

STEP 7

Take your adhesive and run a small line of it along the top edge of your felt wings. You may need to allow the glue 30 seconds or so to start to get tacky, then bend and stick your pipe cleaner along the glued edge. Trim off the excess with scissors or wire cutters if your scissors are your pride & joy!

STEP 8

Using the needle, thread one strand of the long yarn of the pom pom onto it. Then join the wings to the pom pom with a couple of big stitches passing through the felt, the center of the pom pom and back through the top of the bat again. You now trim the long strands of excess wool or keep them attached and hang the finished bat from.

STEP 9

The final step is taking a pair of goggly eyes, I like using different sized ones to make my bat look extra goofy, peel off the backing paper and stick them onto the front of the bats. Mould the pipe cleaner supported wings up in a mid flight kind of position, then make a few more and get hanging them round your home! Experiment with the different sized pom pom makers if you've bought a set and maybe create a entire little family of pom pom bats this halloween.